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THE ' 

ARYXvaRTA OR NORTHERN INDIA. 



aM^ture 

DELIVERED BEFORE 

THE MADRAS NATIVE GENTLEMEN 

IN 

PACHCHAPPAS flALL, 

on the 25th May 1869. 

.... ,r-7, 

*" REDELIVERED BEFORE 

THE VIZAGAPATAM EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

ON THE 

1st SEPTEMBER 1869. 

BY 

LINGAM LAKSHMAJI PANDIT, 


Ridebit monitor non exaudit us, ut ille, 

Qui male parentem in rupes protrusit assellum 
Iratus; quis enim invitum servare laboret? 

Horatius. 


BENARES : 

PRINTED AT THE MEDICAL HALL PRESS. 


£ 


1870. 


















THE ARY AY ART A OR NORTHERN INDIA. 


A LECTURE 


DELIVERED BEFORE 


'> 


THE MADRAS NATIVE GENTLEMEN 

IN 

PACHCHAPPAS HALL, 

on the 25th May 1869. 

REDELIVERED BEFORE 

THE VIZAGAPATAM EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION 

ON THE 

1st SEPTEMBER 1869. 

BY 

LINGAM LAKSHMAJI PANDIT. 


Ridebit monitor non exauditus, ut ille, 

Qui male parentem in rupes protrusit assellum 
Iratus; quis enim invitum servare laboret 1 
> > Horatius. 


BENARES : 

PJEUNTED AT THE MEDICAL HALL PEESS, 


1870 . 











£ 64.23 


nutsmta 1 

3 

tfOV a 1945 

&w:ai Record Mvialon 
• «» Library #f Cwigrew 
Copy - 







THE ARYAVAETA 



Gentlemen, those friends of mine here with whom 
I have had the honor of being early acquainted, having 
desired me to give them my impressions regarding the 
Arydvarta, or Northern India ; 1 gladly avail myself of 
the thus afforded opportunity of appearing before you. 

The classical name Aryavarta has been suggested to 
me by our remarkably well-informed and acute intellected, 
Sri Venbakam Kristnamachariyar ; and instead of defining 
it in my own way, I shall give its definition as given by the 
Sanskrit writers. Manu our patriarch defines it thus :— 

Aryavartah punya bhumih radhyam Vindhya-Hima- 
loyah. 

The Aryavarta is the sacred land between the Vindhya 
i and Himalayan ranges. 

Coming down to our later classical times, we find 
Hema-chandra-charya defining the term in this wise in his 
Abhidhana-chfntamam : 

* Aryavarta januna bhdmir jina chakryartha chakrf- 
nam. Punya bhu rachdra vedimadhyam Vindhya 
Himalayah. 

The Aryavarta is the native land of the primitive 
Baudhas, the primitive monarchs and the demi-gods, the 
sacred and sacrificial land between the Vindhya and 
Himalayan ranges. 






Another definition is given by anancient Grammarian 
in the following words : 

A samudrachcha vai piirvadasamudrachcha paschunat,j 

Himavan Yindhya yor madhyamaryd vartam vidur 
budhah. 

The learned call the tract of land between the East¬ 
ern and Western seas, and the Himalayan, and Vindhya 
mountains, the Aryavarta. 

The word Aryavarta, is a compound of dry a, designa-i 
ting the upper classes of Hindus, and avarta , simply 
meaning a country. The first member drya has again a 
peculiar origin inasmuch as derived from the root ar to| 
till it is applied to those people in primitive India, who 
could till the earth and produce fruit from it by manual 
exertion, in contradistinction to the aborigines who, desti- 
tute of this art, lived on whatever unworked nature spon¬ 
taneously supplied them. Then this word dryd came to* 
mean the honorable as the invading Aryds occupied a su-; 
perior position in the country as all invaders generally do.. 
Properly speaking, the country known by the same Arya¬ 
varta commences from the trans-Rushikulyan tracts north 
of Ganjam, as it is from thence that the Aryan element 
generally predominates. 

It is true that in the Northern Sirkars and also in thei 
south there is a large Ary&n population; but these Ary&sj 
are either Brahmans and Kshatriyas, or those who imme-j 
diately derive their origin from those superior classes; and I 
go whenever we see a fair face in the cis-Rushi kalyarj 





( 5 ) 


tracts, we at once take it to be that of a Brahman or 
Kshatriya. It is however not so when we enter the Nor¬ 
thern tracts of Ganjam, and all the countries further up; 
for there we invariably see that even the inferior classes 
such as the Vaisyas, the Sudras and the like are Aryas. 
But we do not say that in these parts the aborigines do 
not exist; as although the invading Ary as drove them cen¬ 
turies ago to the neighbouring hills and mountaineous 
tracts, yet the lowest orders who are indeed sparse, and 
who have a very large quantity of Aryan blood running in 
their veins, belong to the original race. 

To consider Arydvarta in all its bearings requires 
more ability and more information than 1 possess ; but 
as to do any little justice to the subject, we shall have to 
take it up in some order; I propose to view Northern 
India in its social , intellectual , political and religious as¬ 
pects ; and lastly we may conclude the whole with a few 
general observations. 


To commence with the social aspect of the Aryavarta. 

An intelligent traveller from the south 

The Social aspect. .... . , , , , , . , 

will be struck by the change which 
meets his eyes as soon as he has passed Ichchhaphr, a 
small but remarkably healthy town on the main road in 
Ganjam; and, after crossing the Bushikulya near Ganjam, 
he will imagine himself to be transported into a totally 
different scene. The soil is richer in proportion as it is 
less cultivated; the articles of food are more savory, and 
somewhat cheaper; but the people are proverbially apathe¬ 
tic, indolent, and uncommonly and unreasonably super¬ 
stitious. 





( 6 ) 

Then we have presented to our view the fine sce¬ 
nery of the Chilka lake formed by a storm wave from the 
Bay of Bengal about three centuries ago, when Chaitanya 
first appeared in Bengal, and taught his tenets to the 
people of that province and of Orissa. The Chilka lake 
has since its formation subserved to some extent the pur¬ 
poses of commerce as the produce of Northern Orissa is 
carried on it to the nearest marts by means of large boats. 
The lake itself is not without some awe-inspiring super¬ 
stitions, for there are some deep places in it which are 
supposed to be sacred to, and haunted by, Kali, and in 
passing which the boatmen generally throw down their 
oars and resign themselves to the mercy of the dire goddess, 
chanting her praises. We next enter Puri, or the Pura- 
shottama Kshetra, as it is called, although the people of 
the south call it the Srijagannatha Kshetra. The influ¬ 
ence of this stronghold of our idolatrous worship extends 
far and wide, for it is one of our seven bliss-giving idola¬ 
trous shrines. This shrine of Puri is supposed to be erect¬ 
ed on a hill called the Niladri or Nilaparvata. It is not 
very ancient; but it has shared the fortunes of human 
nature ; for it was for a long time during civil commotions 
buried under sand; the idols themselves having been 
carried away and buried at a distant place; until they 
were fabuously exhumed by a ruling prince, and the whole 
worship restored to its pristine grandeur. 

Puri is a place of great religious resort, as pilgrims 
flock to it from all parts of India, particularly at certain 
seasons of the year, among which the ratha-ydtra or car 
festival season is the chief. Some bewildered people for¬ 
merly used to throw themselves under the wheels of the 




( 7 ) 

moving cars of the different idols, believing that thus 
crushed to death they would instantly ascend to heaven. 
But this nefarious practice as many others of a similarly 
revolting nature has been put down by our English 
governors. 

Except the pandits who are perhaps numerous, but 
whose influence is not salutary, the people in general are 
not educated in any sense of the word. They are not at 
all industrious, and as a necessary consequence, they are 
very poor, ready to be crushed by one single bad season, 
The Chaitanya religion predominates here as in Bengal, as 
established by Chaitanya himself. They speak a lan¬ 
guage called the Odhra which is wholly derived from the 
Sanskrit, and in which there is some literature. There is 
in this province a large class of Zemindars whose estates 
are called the tributary mehals, and some of whom are 
remarkably intelligent, although few have had the ad¬ 
vantage of receiving a liberal education. The adherents 
of Chaitanya here, as in Bengal, called the Prabhu-santdna, 
or the offspring of the Lord, live in a sort of Indian spiri¬ 
tual agapemone. Although apathetic the people are not 
cruel, and heinous crime is not frequent there. Each 
man thinks it his bounden duty to feed Brahmans, and to 
give them something every now and then. There are 
hosts of begging Brahmans who live entirely upon this 
sort of black mail, and who rove about in quest of it. The 
people sometimes give food to a traveller, if he is not a 
mahammadan, for whom they have the greatest hatred. 
The Odhras wear as a general rule coarse cloths; and their 
personal ornaments, except among the Brahmans and 
other superior classes, are made of brass and bell-metaL 
They use certain kinds of animal food; but to eat onions 



( 8 ) 

and garlic is considered a most inexpiable sin. There is 
doubtless much personal beauty among the Odhras ; but 
their ways of dressing and decorating their persons are 
repulsive. 

But when we go up to Bengal the picture is much 
more enlivening; as together with other less potent causes, 
the influence of the British Indian capital of Calcutta has 
wrought almost wonders among the Bengalis; but in 
other respect much of what we have said regarding the 
sister province of Orissa equally applies to the people of 
Bengal, living far away from all ameliorating influences. 
The soil of Bengal is the richest in the world; and the 
people, have always had enough to live upon. 


Living there in a quiet and fertile country; the 
Bengalis, unlike others in India, have had no occasion for 
the evolution of a martial spirit among them. Bengal 
has always been at the same time one of the most if not 
the—in the Hindu sense—most civilized parts of Northern 
India; and its capital Gour, now in ruins, testifies to its 
pristine grandeur. Here the physical appearance of man 
is more attractive although more delicate ; and the people 
are highly sensitive, sentimental, keen and comprehending. 
They in general live here on better food, and are better 
clothed and better ornamented ; but like their Odhra bro¬ 
thers they do not drink except in highly civilzed quarters. 
Although savoring much of the Odhra, yet the Bengalis 
are not filthy in their personal habits. There is indeed 
more and more wealth in Bengal, and a very large class 
of influential Zemindars, landed proprietors and capital¬ 
ists, whose presence has always been a blessing to the 




( 9 ) 


country. The people here are, as a rule, more indiscrimi¬ 
nately hospitable, more social, more liberal than anywhere 
else, except those of the south, who excel all others in these 
virtues. The Bengalis fight more generally with the 
tongue than with the sword; for it is a proverb among the 
Hindustanis , that the Bengali faints at the sight of a 
drawn sword. 

With regard to learning also, the Bengalis are superi¬ 
or, for they have always been a set of highly intellectual 
people ; and much of our ancient non-vedic literature owes 
its origin to Bengal. Their language bearing the same 

o o o o o 

relationship to the Odhra, as does the Tamil to the Te- 
lugu, has been much more cultivated, and contains a far 
superior literature, and is admittedly sweeter than all the 
modern A'rydn languages put together. 

In Bengal there is no place of important religious 
resort; but the Ganga or Bhagirathi is a very great 
attraction to the people who, at stated periods, swarm to 
the sacred stream which confers all kinds of benefits. 
The temple of Kali near Calcutta is also a centre of attrac¬ 
tion ; and many resort to it; but now-a-days those fabu¬ 
lous human sacrifices of which we used to hear so much in 
our younger days are no more heard of there ; nor does 
the goddess Kali exercise the same influence as she used 
to do in former days, seeing that English education and 
western learning of the people have estranged them from 
her. 


The city of Calcutta rightly deserves and demands a 
closer study. It is by its capital that the surrounding 

B 



( 10 ) 


country is influenced either for good or for bad ; and it is ) 
remarkably so with regard to Calcutta. Originally a 
comparatively small town, and deriving its importance 
chiefly from its being one of the seats of Kali, Calcutta 
has, since the British assumption, continued steadily to | 
increase and improve in every respect. It is growing 
every day in importance and wealth; and the southern tra¬ 
veller is indeed lost in amazement on his first visit to this} 
city of palaces. Every where signs of a high civilization 
and hio-h intelligence arrest his attention. There is nothing 
which a cursory traveller can thoroughly observe and suf¬ 
ficiently appreciate. The Ganges appears to him with all 
its magnificent shipping of every nation and every flag as 
if it were a floating and majestic forest of tall trees. The 
strand is filled with busy people; the government palace 
is a centre of attraction; the magnificent shops around it 
always rivet attention; the fort justly strikes one with 
wonder; the bazars display the wealth of the city; and 
the palatial mansions of the highly intellectual Bengali 
gentlemen deservedly produce, feelings of envy in the 
breast of the comparatively impecunious southern visitor. 

The Bengal sun is really burning; nevertheless the: 
breathless visitor continues his course, and next visits those 
fountains of information and intelligence, the printing and 
newspaper presses. The literary and political societies fill 
him with curiosity; and the independant and anglicised 
Bengali Babu, talking political platitudes and discussing 
questions of imperial policy over brandy and beef is a social 
enigma to him. European and Native stand on an equal 
footing here; the one does not shew that curt repulsive 
reservedness into which he is apt to degenerate out of the ! 





( 11 ) 

jPresidency towns; and the other does not feel himself as 
if in the presence of an avenging scourge; they are the 
iclosest and most intimate friends eating on the same table 
and drinking from the same glass ; and perhaps pursuing 
the same object, namely money, in ninety-nine out of a 
hundred cases. 

Then about the afternoon there is some native prince 
of high rank to be received by the Viceroy. There is a 
grand preparation at the Government palace; the sur¬ 
rounding shops are filled with curious spectators; for the 
English people and the anglicised Bengalis unaccustomed 
themselves to the glitter of golden dresses are really amused 
by the profuse display of barbaric gold and 'pearl under 
a rather inconvenient load of which the native princes 
deem it their duty to greet the Queen’s representative. 
Just then starts up a question as to the precise number of 
steps which the Foreign Secretary is to go down to meet 
the advancing prince. Some compromise on either side 
hastily settles it; and always treated with consideration 
and kindness by the British authorities, the overjoyed and 
elate native prince retraces his steps accompained by his 
musty ministers, one of whom is perhaps whispering to 
the others that if it had not been for such and such a 
political manoevour on his part all would have gone 
amiss ! 

Jamalpdr is a large Railway Station between Calcut- 
ita and Benares; and here we shall have fairly left our 
Bengali friends behind and began to see something of the 
muscular and robust Hindostani without any remarkable 
tenacity to his soil, and caring for nobody except himself, 



( 12 ) 

and for nothing except his ever indespensable hooka 
We go up by the same rail; and as we are transported 


over the iron bridge on the Soan, webless the English 
people for having constructed railways in India. 


Patna is now visible; and the almost gloomy and 
melancholy sight which the outskirts of the long celebrat¬ 
ed Palibhotra or Patliputra present us, carry the classical 
traveller to the troublous times of Chandragupta, the 
protege of the astute and learned Brahman Chanakya 
who, having been insulted and treated with disrespect | 
by the last Nanda of the Palibhotra dynasty openly vowed I 
vengeance to the sovereign, and succeeded in overthrowing 
him ; and destroying the Nanda family entirely, and esta¬ 
blishing on the vacant throne his own disciple, the son of 
a Sudra woman. This historical event so well described 
in the Katha-saril-Sagara of Somadeva has been graphi- i 
cally dramatised, as you know, by Visakhadatta in the 
Madra Bakshasa, a most terse English translation of 
which is to be found in Wilson’s Hindu Theatre. The I 
city of Patna has now lost all Hindu appearance and i 
assumed that of a Mahammadan town, inasmuch as at 
present its most influential population is of that denomi-1 
nation. Next morning the city of Benares is in sight.I 
Here one may take ones stand and carefully observe the 1 
surrounding scenery. We all know that Benares is the! 
great centre of Hindu learning and Hinduism ; it is herei 
that the best and worst types of both meet ones eyes! 
The whole city standing as it does on the steep western! 
bank of the noble and sacred stream of the Ganges pre¬ 
sents a. most picturesque appearance. There are indeed 
lofty but very dirty looking houses and mathas along 






( 13 ) 

e bank, which shew how great an importance is attach- 
|l to the nearness of the sacred stream. At almost 
ery place there is a ghatta or a flight of stairs con¬ 
ducted into the stream to make it convenient for the peo- 
© to go down and make the usual ablutions at stated 
lues every day. In the morning the Ganges on the west- 
4 side presents a most interesting view; as we then 
p thousands of people, men and women of every rank 
ad station, bathing in the stream, and saying their morn- 
g prayers. Each ghatta has its own name. The most 
)teworthy is the Maniharmha ghatta which is the most 
;cred in-as-much as it is supposed, that bathing here 
jrtainly gives one bliss in heaven. According to the 
jasa-Kumara-charita of Dandi, the name of this ghatta 
derived from the daughter of a former prince of Kasi 
tving thrown away or lost one of her jewelled ear-orna- 
ents in the stream here. Then there is the open Dasa- 
ramedha ghatta where a former sovereign is said to have 
srformed ten horse sacrifices ; and the next best is the 
.edara-gbatta, where dwells an emblem of Siva known by 
e name of Kedaresvara. There are no Jess than fifteen 
indred Hindu temples at Benares. The chief worship 
that of Siva. The city as it now stands, is not older 
lan perhaps two hundred years, when the Maharattas 
ibuilt it after the Mahammadan perturbations. That 
onoclast Aurungzib had always his religious enthusiasm 
nd intoleration directed against this centre of Hinduism, 
hofessor Edward Hall in a recent monograph has very 
ertinent remarks on the origin of the name of Benares ; 
ut I am inclined to think it is a Hindustani corruption 
fthe Sanskrit word Varanasi, designating the site be¬ 
tween the two parts of the Ganges known as the Varuna 



( 14 ) 


and Asi; because that which stands between the tw( 
branches of the sacred stream is said to be Benares proper 
a circumstance which also accounts for the unwillingness o 
the people there to extend the limits of the City eithe: 
way further, as if they do so they will be going to th< 
extreme of mixing the holy with the unholy ground. Tin 
city, as may naturally be expected under such circumstan 
ces is very crowded ; although it does not contain more 
than 1,75,000 human beings ; the houses being heaped as 
it were upon each other making it almost inconvenient foi 
one accustomed to purer air to live comfortably at Benares 
Then it is called the Ananda-vana, or Siva’s recreation 
garden ; for here no mortal can sin, at least the consequences 
of his sins here do not overtake him. He can be as fre(; 
and as unrestricted as possible, 'physically and morally , bu 
for that obnoxious modern institution called the Police j 
which interferes with human nature even in a holy place 
like Benares. Another of the epithets of Benares is Brah- 
mandla which I should take to mean nothing more than a 
covered sewer, for the whole city proper stands on a num¬ 
ber of covered or underground sewers into which is dis¬ 
charged all the rubbish and night-soil. A third epithet j 
is Mahdsmasuna , or the great burning ground ; for day anc l 
night one always sees some human corps being burnt at the 
Manikarnika Gliatta. The best part of the population 
are the Maharatta Brahmans who are very respectable, 
very intelligent and some really learned. Then come the 
Mahajans or the moneyed trading classes, who are alsc 
very respectable, but who are generally innocent of learn¬ 
ing. Then there are the Kayasthas a race of hereditary 
scribes originally descending from a Ksliatraya father and 
Sudra mother. A large number of Bengalis, many of whom 




! 

( 15 ) 

u . 

| are very intelligent and very respectable, have made Be¬ 
ll nares, the place of their permanent residence. The city 
also abounds with a number rajalings, representatives of 
broken dynasties, political prisoners, and rich visitors who 
find it very difficult to wean themselves from its 
many attractions. There is a very large intermixture 
of all-consuming Muhammadans. The rest is a sort of 
floating population, without any established status ; and to 
rliis may be added the hosts of pennyless pilgrims who 
resort to the holy city from every part of India, and who 
uhiding an easy livelihood here are tempted to remain 
Hway. 
c 

/ The almost daily melas or festive meetings and con¬ 
courses at Benares, are a chief attraction. The city beino- 
full of Hindu pagodas there is some festival going on at 
some of them every day ; and it is really a sight to see 
large numbers of handsome, well-dressed and superbly 
decorated Hindu ladies going on in batches of tens and 
twenties on foot to the temples. Of course the elite 
of the opposite sex is to be found sauntering at these 
melas. 

Then there are several centres of learning where 
self-made but really learned professors are propounding the 
knotty points in the Sanskrit Grammar, Sanskrit Logic, 
and teaching the Sanskrit classics to a number of gratui¬ 
tous pupils. The chief Puranas are daily recited in some 
of the chief temples and explained or interpreted to a host 
of Hindu females chiefly widows ; and the Vydsaji for such 
is the professional name of the Puranic. reciter receives 
some small presents from his fair audience. 




( 16 ) 


It is at Benares that we see the lordly looking and 
well-formed Hindustanis sleek with the rich food which is f 
here had cheaper and more abundantly than elsewhere. The 
people of this part of India as well as of the still upper 
provinces are as a rule handsome. The superior nature 
of the food upon which they live here, and the purer air 
and bracing atmosphere of these parts are doubtless the 
causes of the superior physcial appearance of man here. 
Every where the country presents a most inviting appear¬ 
ance. The people are somewhat indifferent to the people 
of the south, whom they do not regard with any sense 
of respect; although now and then they are inclined to 
be hospitable to the veda-chanting Brahmans from the 
banks of the Kistna and Godavari. The country seems 
to be abundantly rich ; and the upper classes are as a 
general rule well-to-do people. Almost very third respect¬ 
able man you meet with is a landed proprietor, a Zemin¬ 
dar, a Jaghirdar, a wealthy Mahajun, or a banker. They 
are as a rule well dressed and well behaved ; and they 
speak a language called the Hindi which derived from 
the Sanskrit and containing no literature properly so called 
of its own, has a large mixture of Arabic and Persian 
words. The people in these parts are not blindly and 
grossly superstitious; yet they generally observe every 
Hindu ceremony. 

Again the upper and well-to-do classes, not being en¬ 
tirely dependent on Govt, service for living, do not come 
frequently into contact with the European gentlemen who 
whenever they meet them treat them with consideration 
and respect. But although comparatively independent 
and therefore to a certain extent commanding respect, the 
Hindustanis are very much afraid of the Europeans. 





( I? ) 

The country is thickly dotted with native princes, poli¬ 
tically more or less independent ; and as in politically in¬ 
dependent tracts the will of the regnant prince is generally 
the law, and as incessant and daring intrigue is frequently 
successful, the people of the contiguous British provinces 
are apt to degenerate into lawless habits, and frequently 
adopt lawless courses. 

Our attention is then drawn to Cawnpdr more cele¬ 
brated since the mutiny of 1857. The sacred garden 
and the still more sacred well into which the Chris¬ 
tian victims of the cruel Nana were thrown inspire one 
with religious awe. The lofty and majestic figure of the 
Angel of hope which is placed over the closed well indeed 
adds to the sacredness of the already sacred and still grove. 

Lucknow which next comes in sight is full of nice 
buildings, full of dancing girls and dancing boys, full of 
musicians, fluters, fifers, full of professional singers, full of 
ballad makers, full of idle saunterers, and full of people 
with love tales on their lips. Beyond this there is hardly 
any thing more that deserves notice here, unless it be the 
rising English institutions, which certainly promise to re¬ 
generate the province ere long. The growing prosperity 
of the people in general, and the peace which reigns through¬ 
out the province attest to the magic of the English rule 
which has in so short a time reduced one of the most 
troublous parts of India to peaceful order. 

There are some places of minor importance on our 
way up ; but our attention will chiefly be fixed and con¬ 
centrated on the two imperial cities of Delhi and Agra, 


Q 





( 18 ) 


As you enter 33elhi you are at once struck by its still lurk¬ 
ing imperial grandeur. Tbe Silimghar or the old fort, the 
Lai Killa or the red fort, the Chandini chauk, the Jumma mas- 
jad, the Kutub, and a hundred other objects fully occupy 
us. The people even of the lowest orders use the language 
of a polished but licentious court. The behaviour of the 
people in general is dignified, and their personal appear- 
ance commanding. 

As we enter the Lal-killa or the new fort built with 
red stone we are again struck by the remains of its 
former magnificence. There is the Divan Khas or the 
private audience hall on which is written in golden charac- 
ters this inscription :— 

“ If there be a heaven on earth it is this, it is this, it 
is this! 

Then we see the Divan Am or the public audience hall; 
where we are shewn the different standing places,—for no¬ 
body dared to sit down in the imperial presence—which 
each of the satellites of Jayapur, Udayapur, and others of 
similar rank and position occupied ; and then we are led 
to the throne seat with an aperture on the back of it, 
through which it is said that the celebrated and beautious 
Nhr Jehan, light of the world, the favorite and constant 
consort of the emperor Jehangir, thrust her delicate hand 
and touched her imperial lover’s back, as without it resting 
on him and animating him as it were, he could neither 
transact public business nor appear on any public occasion ! 
The Hammam khana or the imperial bath, and the Moth 
masjud also require our attention. 



( 19 ) 


At Agra the fort with its fine buildings, the Taj- 
mahal especially, and the immense plain now used as a 
parade ground occupy us. Everything in the fort shews 
the luxurious sensuality of the Mogul Emperors. The 
mosque is a really superb building and requires close 
study. Then there is a marbled chess-board-floor on 
which it is said that the emperors used well-dressed fine 
looking young girls in the place of chess-pieces. 

The Taj-mahal is indeed the wonder of the world. 
The history of that surpassing beauty Bano Begarn, after¬ 
wards Taj, in whose honor the structure was built is told by 
a hundred bards; and her pictures so finely done at Delhi 
and Agra, find a ready sale at fabulous prices. That 
majestic building is an attraction in all its parts; and one 
is lost in imagination in contemplating its unrivalled gran¬ 
deur. You find the leading portions of the Khoran in¬ 
scribed on the marble walls of this wonderful building by 
means of letter-shaped precious stones impressed therein 
imbedded. 

From Delhi further up the scene never changes, ex¬ 
cept that the stamp of Mahammadanism is every where 
more and more prominently visible. 

You see Panipat so often the scene of pitched battles 
which used to decide the fate of India ; and you see Kar- 
naul an almost desolate place. With scarcely anything to 
fix our attention further, we are further carried to the 
foot of the cloud-capped mountains, the lofty and majes¬ 
tic Himalayas: and near Kalka there is a beautiful gar¬ 
den called the Pinjour valley with its water jets constantly 
playing and with many kinds of fruit and flower trees. 







( 20 ) 


Here first we come in contact with a people whose fea¬ 
tures have somewhat of the Mongolian or Chinese stamp 
on them. Hinduism is almost forgotten here. At Kalka 
you ascend the hills. The Himalayan scenery is indeed 
very striking. When you are higher up you will find it 
raining and thundering under your feet; and thus you enter 
that really earthly Paradise, Simla, or more properly the 
Sydmala-Kshetra from the goddess Syamala or Kali 
residing on one of the nearest peaks. Here there is a pro¬ 
fusion of the Parvateyas or hillmen not at all to be 
compared to our Todas, Bhils, Kondhs and Savaras, but 
really a fine set of people. Here we also meet with 
Kashmerians renowned for their personal beauty. 

Wherever there are Hindus, there the same Hindu 
The intellectual as- <*&stoms and manners prevail. India is the 
P ect * country of the Hindus ; and we must be 

prepared to find the same monotony every where from 
Cape Comorin to the Himalayas with but slight differences 
arising from the people of the different tracts following the 
different codes of our different patriarchs. The same vedas, 
the same philosophical writings, the same smritis or tradi¬ 
tions, and the same puranas predominate from one end to 
the other. It is only the later commentators who have 
interpreted the different texts each in his own way that 
have exercised a sort of moral and intellectual tyranny 
over us. The Hindus as you all know occupy the fore¬ 
most place among the ancient nations. We are the first 
civilized people in the world. We have been reckoned as 
superior even to the ancient Greeks and Homans, the most 
civilized of all the civilized nations. We have always held 
a commanding position in an intellectual point of view. 



( 21 ) 

The ancient travellers of China, Greece, and Rome attest 
to our pristine grandeur and importance. The Alexand¬ 
rian writers, the early Romans, and the Chinese visitors 
speak in high terms of ourselves, our learning, and our 
country. It is from us that the ancient Greece, the ancient 
Rome, and the pre-Muhammedan Arabia seem to have 
derived the rudiments of their knowledge as far as the 
sciences and arts are concerned. There is no doubt that 
the seed of learning was imported into other early nations 
from our soil. You all know that the decimal system is 
derived from the Hindus who have always used a decimal 
‘ notation. Our Pancha-tantra, our Suka-sapta-sati, our 
I Brihat Katha, and similar works form the ground work from 
| which all ancient nations seem to have derived a know- 
; ledge of fable-writing subserving the purposes of moral 
I instruction. Our astronomy also was in great repute 
I among the ancient nations. 

The brahmans are the first and foremost people among 
the Hindus; the intellectual palm has always been theirs. 

! There has not been a similar race of self-denying and 
j highly intellectual and highly cultivated people among any 
other nations on the face of the earth. The brahamanical 
intellect has been cultivated almost from the beginning of 
the world ; for the brahmans represent the first and last 
best Aryans. It is they that have been the authors and 
preservers of all Aryan learning. The brahmans have al¬ 
ways held the foremost rank in India. Earfy they were 
the rulers of our land ; latterly devoting themselves exclu¬ 
sively to intellectual and spiritual pursuits they severed 
themselves from worldy cares, resigning the regal power to 
the second class, the Kshatriyas ; but at the same time 





( 22 ) 

taking care to maintain their own intellectual and spiritual 
© . _ 
superiority and worldly precedence, and looking upon the 

thence forward ruling class as their inferiors in every respect. 
The sacredness attached to the name of brahman has al¬ 
ways been proverbial. The word Abrahmanyam, unbrah- 
manical uttered as a word of appeal means anarchy , show¬ 
ing that what is not fit for brahmans is not worth having, 
or is to be forthwith avoided. Unattended, undecorated, 
unassuming and simple the brahman has always com¬ 
manded high consideration and high reverence. His 
awe-inspring presence has always cowed the most unscru¬ 
pulous tyrant in India. Seeing that in later times the 
kshatryas degenerated into mere sensualists, the brah¬ 
mans came to their help. Then a rule was enacted that 
none but brahmans should fill the place of minister to a 
Hindu sovereign. So we find not only from our own re¬ 
cords but also from the writings of Magasthenes, a Gree- 
cian ambassador to the Court of Chandragupta of Patali- 
putra or Patna, that the best and foremost Sanskrit scholars 
and writers such as Katyana, Amarasinha, Pakshasa, 
Chanakya and others were successively ministers of the most 
powerful and long lasting Palibhotra dynasty. Even dur¬ 
ing the Mahammadan occupation of our country, the 
brahmans although somewhat religiously persecuted were 
placed in leading administrative posts. Who has not read 
of the great Akbar’s, great financial minister Todar Mall? 
Who does not know the adminstration of Purnayya of 
Mysore ? Nor have the English despised the brahmans; for, 
for a long time it was a rule among the early English ad¬ 
ministrators that brahmans alone should occupy the fore¬ 
most places next to themselves in the administration of 
our country. I remember Mr. Onslaw, a former Govern 




( 23 ) 

hor’s Agent in Ganjain seriously remarking that “if there 
were no brahmans there could be no Kacheri.” 

Our truly monstrous Sanskrit literature, a great part 
of which has been hopelessly lost, is the reflex of our man¬ 
ners and customs ; as is the case with the literature of 
every other nation ancient or modern. But this difference 
strikes every well-meaning and impartial inquirer in our 
present condition. The European nations have been 
adapting themselves and theirs to the advancing intelli¬ 
gence of modem times; while the Asiatic people, and 
among them, more especially we Hindus appear not to have 
done so ; but gentlemen, in this respect we have our own 
excuse; for ever since the Mahammadan invasion, the 
people of India have never enjoyed political rest and 
political freedom. Our ancient monarchies swept away, 
and with them all unity of action for the moral and intel¬ 
lectual improvement of the people, we cannot wonder that 
we have remained stationary where we were a thousand 
years ago. But the very political changes that we have 
been subjected to from time to time have in themselves 
done us some good, as if we had remained close, against 
every other nation, we should never have been brought 
into contact with contrary influences; we should have 
revolved and evolved the same things ; and after all we 
should not have advanced a step further. Our literature 
shews that our ancestors had about the time of Maham¬ 
madan perturbations perfected in their own way their 
Isciences and arts, that they had made all the discoveries 
and inventions which they were capable of doing, and that 
about the times we are alluding to, they had pretty nearly 
set themselves to work upon the materials they had then 



( 24 ) 


collected. They believed that nothing more was ever 
possible to be known or discovered in nature, a state of 
feeling which is so graphically described in the Novum 
Organum in the following words :— 


Verum non satis illis est, de se confiteri, sed quid 
sibi ipsis aut magestris suis incognitum aut intactum fuerit, 
id extra terminos possibilis ponunt; et tanquam arte eog- 
nitu aut factu impossible pronuntiant; summa superbia et 
invidia suorum inventorum infirmitatem in naturae ipsius 
calumniam et aliorum omnium desperationem vertentes. 
Not only the blind reverence of our ancestors to the still 
more ancestral vedas ; but also their admiration and satis¬ 
faction at what had been then known was another potent 
cause of their stagnation, so far as the progress of sci¬ 
ences and arts was concerned; and here also we find our¬ 
selves supported by the immortal Bacon who says further 
on:—Neque solum admiratio antequitatis auctoritatis et 
consensus, hominum industriam in iis, quae jam inventa 
sunt, acquiescere compulit; verum etiam operum ipsorum 
admiratio, quorum copia jampridem facta est humano 
generi. 


Even from the enterprising Mahammadans who in¬ 
deed proved our scourges we have learned many things 
which have increased our material comforts. 

The later education and mental culture of the upper 
classes degenerated into learning merely the outward 
superstitious rites which our Puranic religion so vigorous¬ 
ly enforces. 


Our forefathers in the later 


times paid no attention 


to 




( 25 ) 

their vernaculars through which alone they could reach 
the masses. 

The barriers between class and class and the feelings 
about them are so strong that so long as they remain, as 
they have hitherto remained, without any shew of reason 
and contrary to our own scriptures, we can never become 
happy. One instance which has fallen under my own obser¬ 
vation will show to what unreasonable and rediculous 
extent this feeling is carried. A brahman of the usual 
education in the employ of a D. P. W. officer was ordered 
to have a quantity of charcoal prepared in a neighbouring 
jungle during the hot month of May. He went 
into a jungle some fifteen miles away from his place ; but 
finding that there was only one well from which the people 
of the lower castes were drawing their w T ater, he religiously 
avoided touching it, and at the same time exposing himself 
to the burning sun, fell down about midday speechless 
and insensible. The coolies whom he bad employed were 
all pariahs ; but seeing that the holy brahman was perish¬ 
ing, they drew out the life-giving water from the same well 
and poured it into his month ; he of course drank it. They 
then soaked him well in water, and then carried him to his 
own town, where when the story was told it excited both 
laughter and pity. 

The brahmans when they learn anything next to the 
to-them-unintelligible vedas learn the Sanskrit grammar 
and Sanskrit logic. None dare think of learning both 
completely. They consider that when they have mastered 
either the Sanskrit grammar, or simply the formal logic, 
they have acquired all the learning in the world ; and in¬ 
stead of paying any attention to the general Sanskrit liter- 

D 




( 2{J ) 

ature they begin to solve every thing in their own conceit- j 
ed manner. A story is told of a Sanskrit grammarian, 
who, when about to go to a neighbouring village through 
an intervening forest, asked his friends whether there was ! 
any fear on the road; and when he was told that the in¬ 
tervening forest was infested by a vydghra or tiger, an ani¬ 
mal of which he had no conception whatever, he thought 
it beneath himself to ask them what the word meant and 
began to analize it thus:—The word vyaghra is composed 
of the prepositions vi and d both meaning much and the 
root ghrd which means to smell. So it must mean some- j 
thing that smells a little too much ; and it is not proper 
to expect that any fear will come out of anything that 
smells a little too much. Thus satisfied he proceeded, and 
was of course overtaken and eaten up by the hungered 
tiger which had little respect for the holy brahman. 

A logician of the same order after having completed his so- 
called studies at some well-known place of learning, returned 
to his fatherVin-law house; where on his first appearance his 
brothers-in-law in order to test how acute a logician he was, 
jocosely told him that his wife had become a widow, and osten¬ 
tatiously began to weep bitterly. The bewildered logician 
also took it much to heart and began to weep too. The father- 
in-law and the bystanders remarked to him that it was impos¬ 
sible that his wife should become a widow while he was yet 
living. “ Why, gentlemen,” he turns round and tells them, 
“why can not my wife become a widow during my life time ? 
That is logically wrong; you see my mother has become a 
widow during my life time, my sister has become a widow 
during my life time, and by the same analogy my wife can 
become a widow during mv life time.” 






( 27 ) 

Such, gentlemen, is the learning which the generality 
of our present pandits, and present spiritual guides are 
possessed of. Then woe for us if we suffer ourselves to be 
led away by them. Of course there are very superior and 
really learned men, but unless their learning is sifted by 
the light of the western philosophy, and unless they suffer 
their dogmas to be examined by the Baconian principles, 

I instead of becoming useful or fruitful either to themselves 
or to their neighbours, they turn out to be real nuisances. 
At Benares there are very superior pandits, such men as 
Bapu Deva Sastri and others who having added the puri¬ 
fying western learning to their extensive Sanskrit know¬ 
ledge are indeed bright examples of the contrary kind ; 
but their number is as yet too small and their influence, if 
ever they dare to exert it, is naturally unfelt. Beyond 
i Benares even this learning has disappeared; but the 
people of the upper tracts have happily betaken therm 
selves to the more practical learning of the Arabians and 
Persians; and with the Arabic and Persian they enrich 
their vernaculars. They are thus more fitted for the dis¬ 
charge of the duties of every day life. At Kurukshetra 
which is one of our great holy places, and at which there 
are numbers of beggarly brahmans, I was struck by the 
absence of any vestige of any learning whatever. At 
Calcutta the case is quite different. There it is highly 
gratifying to see many a reformer beginning with the 
celebrated Pandit Isvara Chandra Sarma Yidya Sagar, 
and many an antiquarian beginning with Babu itajendra* 
lal Mittra, the ornament of the Bengal Asiatic Society. 
The Calcutta University has given an impetus to Anglos 
Sanskrit learning ; and the really learned Pandit Tara- 
nath Tarka Vaehaspatfs elementary works are already 



( 26 ) 

making the study of our holy and classical language a 
comparatively easy task. We want a body of Anglo- 
Sanskrit scholars, because it is Anglo-Sanskrit learning 
that will subvert our existing prejudices ; and it is only 
by its means that India will be ameliorated and regene¬ 
rated. 

The whole of Telingana, as well as all the tracts 
where the brahmans of the Pancha Dravida order prevail, 
as also the province of Orissa is infested by infant marria¬ 
ges, although such a rite is not imperative on us. In Bengal 
and in the upper provinces, they do not confine themselves 
to infant marriages. The example of the higher classes is 
implicitly followed by the lower orders in this as in every 
other respect. In some parts the little girls are regularly 
sold and bought; while in others husbands are sold and 
bought as in the case of Kulins in Bengal, where happily 
this abominable practice is in its wane. 

In the upper provinces where the husband buying 
exists to a fearful extent, the consequence is that female 
infanticide is very generally practiced. Then the most 
crying evil of evils is the supposed prohibition of widow 
re-marriages in the upper classes throughout the length and 
breadth of India. There is not only direct sanction in 
our scriptures for such re-marriages, but the custom pre¬ 
vailed among our ancestors. In some unaccountable manner, 
perhaps owing to the pernicious influence of our precious 
pandits who have always wanted widows for domestic 
purposes; this salutary practice has fallen into disuse 
among the ivell-to-do-classes; and the consequence is that 
the whole of India is groaning under a moral curse. There 




( 29 ) 

! is as yet one bright example, and that is of Pandit Isvara 
Chandra-Sarma-Vidya Sagar, the reformer of Bengal, 
who has not only successfully proved that there is direct 
sanction for the re-marriage of Hindu widows, not only 
written much on the subject, not only constantly and con- 
i sistently advocated the revival of the practice, not only 
faced all sorts of obloquy for having thus become a rene- 
i gade, but has also, be it said to his immortal glory, 
been the cause and instrument of the celebration of more 
than fifty widow remarriages. Yet let it be remembered 
that the celebrated reformer is no Brahmo, no Christian, 
but a pure and staunch and rigid Hindu. 

Politically ancient India was never under a single 
The Political aspect, monarch; and the existence of countries 
bearing different names independently of other historical 
residence to be found in our ancient Sanskrit litera¬ 
ture proves this fact. Enervated by unrestricted luxury 
and licensed sensuality the Hindu princes gave way 
one by one to the invading Mahammadans; but no 
conquerors can or need destroy the unopposing depen¬ 
dent or tributary princes, and the still more dependent 
aristocracy of the land, who were often employed by 
the Mahammadan emperors as the instruments of es¬ 
tablishing and consolidating their own power in the distant 
parts of India. But there were the quasi-independent 
states of the Rajasthan, who were so near the seat of 
imperial power that it is a wonder that they have re¬ 
mained intact as it were; although the means which they 
employed for the purpose of securing themselves and theirs 
were not extraordinary. They did not oppose force to 
force; but seeing that the early Mogal emperors courted 



( 30 ) 

matrimonial alliances with them, they readily and gladly 
availed themselves of this expedient of avoiding the other¬ 
wise imminent self-destruction, by offering their daughters 
and sisters to the Mogals, who thus became their sons-in- 
law and their brothers*in-law. Thus the whole of the 
Rajasthan having been spared and saved, the Mogals look¬ 
ed upon the leading Hindu princes of that province as their 
natural allies and confiderates, in political rank next to 
themselves alone. Thus too their relatives, and the relatives 
of their relatives, who were petty princes either in their 
neighbourhood or in distant tracts were also saved. The 
Zanana influences were then as now always great; and the 
Rajaputra ladies were able now and then to make their de¬ 
pendants, favorite brahmans, and family priests, landed no¬ 
bles. So we see many landed proprietors even in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the seat of Mogal Government. All these were 
treated with a certain amount of respect which they have, 
with few exceptions, maintained even up to our times. 

Latterly sprung up the policy of Subadarships; 
and under each of the Subadars again we always find a 
number of dependent Zamindars and Talukdars, some¬ 
times belonging to the soil and sometimes imported 
and placed in their stead as mere renters and farmers of 
the revenue, which it was then very difficult and tedious 
to collect. To this circumstance, to the existence of many 
landed lords, and to the law of primogeniture which has 
always been in force among them, is chiefly owing the 
wealth of these provinces, where although many of the 
landed proprietors themselves are impecunious, there are 
more capitalists and moneyed men than any where else. 

In the independent and quasi-independent states the 


( 31 ) 

will of the regnant prince is generally the law of the land; 
and there being little or no honesty generally among the 
ministers, the people suffer grievously ; but with all this 
which the British government tolerates, instead of insisting 
on the introduction of their own codes and other concurrent 
reforms, which would at once work a change for the bet¬ 
ter the native princes, landed proprietors and landed lords 
are a blessing to the country. 11 is true that if these mid¬ 
dle-men did not exist the prosperity of the country would 
be more levelled and more equalized among the people ; 
but then the people would be fit for no noble purpose. 
The theory of modern government is, as you all know, not 
only to keep the people in contented ignorance; it is at 
the same time the duty as it were of the rulers of a country to 
raise the intellectual status of their subjects. The more 
you raise the people from their brute ignorance, the more 
will be the means of multiplying their material prosperity 
because that the accumulated wisdom of a people will pro¬ 
duce more wealth and more material comfort we have 
many an instance in modern times. There will always 
remain a substratum of people in gross ignorance, but that 
is no reason that their numbers should increase instead of 
decreasing. 

We know that intellectual superiority always mini¬ 
mizes manual labour, and that the more a people are 
intellectually advanced, the more will be the need for the 
employment of machinery which is undoubtedly capable 
of achieving more than unassisted hands. Thus, I see 
more cogent reasons for multiplying the race of landed 
aristocracy than for multiplying the lower orders to live in 
contented ignorance. 





Sentimental people point with a shudder to the already j 
existing native states, and ask us whether any good is 
likely to come from the caprices of silken fools and the 
outlawry of purpled greatness. But there is nothing to 
prevent us from removing all causes of the abuse of power. 
If the British Government suggests and insists on the ad¬ 
option of a better system of administration into the native 
states, if it makes it a rule that the native princes should 
receive a good English education before they are permit¬ 
ted to sit at the head of their affairs, and if the British 
officers watch and direct their proceedings with less scru¬ 
pulousness, all that is desirable will have been done. We 
need only look at some of the great states of Eajastlian in 
the present famine and we shall be convinced of what 
British political wisdom is capable of doing as it has done, 
in inducing the native princes there to introduce into their 
administrations such reforms as are calculated to prove 
lasting blessings to the people. 

Coming to the masses themselves we are every where 
struck by their contentment. The codes have worked a 
revolution ; the law of limitation and the registration acts 
have smothered and swept away a very great source 
of crime and discontent. The multiplication of judicial 
courts, the uniform postage, the railways and the electric 
telegraph have every where been a real blessing to the 
people. Lawless habits are getting less and less; orga¬ 
nized bands for illicit and illegal purposes have every 
where almost disappeard ; and security of person and se¬ 
curity of property reign universally. 

Our religion and our spiritual ideas are a subject to 
Religious aspect. which no justice can be done in the short 





( 33 ) 

space which we have now left to ourselves. There is no 
doubt whatever that a thorough expurgation and a radical 
reform should take place ; and that is not to be expected 
from the race of pandits whom we have now got. It is 
only I repeat, from a sufficiently large body of Anglo-Sans- 
krit scholars devoting themselves to the examination of our 
scriptures that the expected radical reforms will emanate. 

Our vedas are the wonder of the world. No nation 
has more early or more ancient records. It is professedly 
for the illustration and illucidation of the vedas that the 
greater portion of our literature is devoted; but the pre¬ 
sent examination of the vedas in their existing state shews 
that they do not tend so much to throw light upon our 
i present religion and spiritual ideas, as to record the sayings 
I and doings of our primitive ancestors; although all the 
: would-be reformers should as a starting point make 
themselves acquainted with these the most ancient records 
in the world. But that the knowledge of our vedic ancestors 
was limited and that therefore the wisdom which they 
' teach is not that which can be received and accepted by us 
living in times of advanced intelligence and more correct 
ideas cannot but be admitted by all well meaning, unbiassed 
and intelligent men. Our knowledge of the world and 
our experience handed down to us from age to age are 
very superior to what our ancestors possessed; and unless 
we acknowledge our vedic authors to be inspired, we shall 
not be justified in accepting their teachings as infallible ; 
especially as we cannot conceal from ourselves the fact that 
those teachings are generally repugnant to cultivated 
reason. Whether the vedas are the production of inspired 
authors should be tested by the light of Baconian philo- 

E 





sophy, that philosophy to which Lord Macauley attributes 
all the good in post-Elizabeth Europe. 

Coming down to later times, we have the upanishads 
which are the basis of our theology, and which demand a 
careful scrutiny; but these should be studied together 
with the Darasanas to which exactly applies the following 
remark in Lord Bacon’s Novum Organum :— 

At primi et antiquissimi veritatis inquisitores, meliore 
fide et fato, cognitionem illarn, quam ex rerum contempla- 
tione decerpere, et in usura reeondere statuebant, in apho- 
rismos, sive breves, easdemque sparsas, nec methodo re- 
revinctos sententias, conjiecera solebant; neque se artem 
universam complecti simraabant, aut profitebantur. At 
eo quo nunc resagitur modo, mini me mirum est, si homi¬ 
nes in iis ulteriora non quaera..!:, quae pro perfectis et 
numeris suis jam pridem absolutis traduntur. 

Our forefathers trying to fuse into unision the purely 
spiritual views of our primitive rishis or sages and the 
materialistic conceptions of the Puranic authors have done 
us the greatest possible amount of mischief. 

Illud in his rebus vereor, ne forte rearis 
Impia te rationis inire elementa viam que 
Ingredi sceleris; quod contra saepius ilia 
Religio peperit scelerosa atque impia facta. 

Lucretius . 

It is this effort of our later spiritual guides to which 
we owe the numerous religious sects existing not only in 
the A'ry&varta, but throughout the rest of India; and 


( 35 ) 

which has given rise to Sankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, 
Chaitanva and others of minor importance, each in his way 
trying to reconcile the Aupanishada precepts with the 
Puranic teachings. Then again departing from the origi¬ 
nal school founded by the well-known Rajah Rama 
Mohun Roy, the present Brahmos have founded for them¬ 
selves a sort of eccletic religion which owes a great deal 
to Christian Theology ; but their teachings and their ritual 
have as yet failed to attract any large number of intelligent 
men. Instead of following a plan similar to that which 
we have sketched out, and which alone will convince the 
Hindus of the truth or otherwise of their present religious 
tenets, the Brahmos have gone and built up a new and 
seemingly independent religion; and it remains to be seen 
what success they will be ultimately crowned with when 
our school will have been fairly formed. 

Let us now descend to a more congenial atmosphere. 
General observations. I f ea r I have already exhausted your 
patience ; and the Procrustian limits of time allowedf or an 
address of this kind do not allow me to dilate further. 
I shall however close with a few remarks of a general 
description. 

What has been now said generally refers to the 
Ary&varta ; but as 1 have already remarked India and its 
people should always be looked upon as a whole, as the 
physical and social differences are merely climatic and 
sectarian and do not affect us further. 

The present researches into the interesting science of 
language has established different linguistic families, 





( 36 ) 

from which it is deducible that the different races of mankind 
must have had different patriarchs ; and attempts are also 
being made to prove the common identity of the whole 
human race by the production of linguistic evidence. As 
man where-ever and however formed, whether in the frizid 
or torrid zone, whether as civilized or barbarous, his 
natural wants and desires are all identical, it follows that 
his language must have originally been one and the same. 
Again the identity of human language being thus establish¬ 
ed, it directly establishes the identity of human race. 
There can be no doubt whatever as to the common lan¬ 
guage of man being that from which the primitive Sanskrit 
was wrought out; and the most remarkable verbal and 
inflectional coincidences which strike us in many of the 
old inflectional languages cannot be attributed to chance. 
Asa practical illustration of this fact I shall read out to 
you some short sentences which I have composed in San¬ 
skrit and Latin, which are in every respect identical and 
mean the same thing in both languages. 

In Sanskrit the equivalent expression for “ I have a 
house” is 

Asti mahyam dhama. 

In Latin the same is :— 

Est mihi domus. 

For “ My father and mother are dead” You say in 
Sanskrit:— 

Pita mdta mama mritau. 

In Latin the same is 

Pater, mater mei mortni. 

For “ I have got three brothers” the Sanskrit is:— 
Brataro mama trayah santi. 



( 37 ) 

In Latin you say the same :— 

Fratres mei tres sunt. 

For “ My eye does not espy the ship in the sea 5 ’ the 
Sanskrit is :— 

Na pasyati mama akshi navam varini tisthantim. 
The same in Latin is :— 

Non specit mei oculus navem mari sthantem. 
For “ Hero’s go to the abode of the sun,” we say in 
Sanskrit:— 

Vira stiryasya locum pray anti 
The same in Latin is :■— 

Viri solis locum proeunt. 


So you see what a close resemblance there is be¬ 
tween the two oldest cultivated inflectional languages. 
The establishment of the identity of the human race by 
means of the science of language is a blessing, especially 
to us who are governed by a foreign nation, inasmuch as 
it has established the idea, that we and the Europeans are 
members of the same brotherhood; and this idea and 
the feelings to which it has given rise in every good 
heart have been productive of immense political good 
to us. 

The education which we are receiving although not 
altogether that which our circumstances require we should 
receive, is already working wonders. Where-ever English 
education has prevailed, it has generally levelled the most 
obnoxious of our prejudices which are as yet not replaced 
by any thing better as our present mental culture is not 
probably equal to that. Our young men as soon they 
emerge from their colleges, consider their education as 



( 38 ) 

complete* and never generally take a book again into their 
hands in after-life. But we have many and honorable: 
exceptions in our pre-university men, our Ramiengars, 
our Banganatha Sastris, our Muttusvami Ayyars, our 
Seshayyars, and others who are held in high esteem, and 
whose advancement in life shews how readily our rulers are 
willing to utilize the indigenous material for administra¬ 
tive and political purposes. 

The future is full of hope to us.' Every day our 
Governors are adopting a more and more liberal policy 
towards India and its millions ; and as we advance intel¬ 
lectually the highest prizes that are to be had in worldly 
preferment will fall within our reach. You all know 
what the Duke of Argyll, the present Secretary of State 
for India is at this moment doing for us. 

But, gentlemen, we know that Government service 
is not the only means for worldly advancement. There 
are a thousand other openings ; and the non-official English 
gentlemen who make princely fortunes under very noses, 
ought to open our eyes to what can be done in other 
directions. But with all this the thorough amelioration 
and regeneration of India cannot be effected until we can 
aspire higher than to Rupees, annas and pice, until Hindu 
or Native Engineers can build steamers in India, until we 
are capable of navigating our own vessels on the same 
scientific principles as the European captains and pilots do, 
until we can construct the telegraphic wire for ourselves, ; 
until we can make private rail-roads to connect place with 

* No yonng man’s scholastic education is to be deemed complete before he has 
mastered Mill’s two great works, the Political Economy and the Logic. All classical 
students should study Bacon’s Novum Organum in Latin. 




( 39 ) 

place, until we can make some land conveyance which not 
lequiring animal power for its locomotion will economize 
; time and labor, until better agricultural implements are 
I made with reference to the present wants of the country 
| and agriculture itself is carried on scientifically. 

Many of our present wants escape our attention in 
I our hot pursuit of some preferment. We do not attend 
even to our most necessary physical comforts. We have 
| read how by means of scientific wells, good drinking water 
S was supplied by the English Engineers to the Abyssinian 
; force : we know that in many places in India good drinking 
water is scarce. Have we directed our attention to this ? 
In many places in the mofussil the paddy fields on the 
banks of a full nalla are parched for want of an adequate 
; supply of water. The nulla is no doubt very deep, and 
the water cannot be utilized by means of canals ; but is 
there no other mode of temporarily making use of the 
flowing stream ? Our most pressing want is a self-moving 
panka and yet we have no native mechanic who can 
supply this want. Gan we explain the anomally of our 
using European watches and time-pieces, in which our 
day begins at six o'clock in the morning and ends at six 
o'clock in the evening, instead of beginning at one and ending 
at twelve f The fact is we do not as yet find ourselves at 
leisure to turn our attention to these simple wants and 
conveniences and comforts. 

I feel very much gratified by the patient attention 
which you have been kind enough to accord to this per¬ 
haps tedious address. I must confess that Madras and 
its rising native gentlemen have made a very favorable 
impression on my mind, an impression which I hope will 




last to the end of my days. The people in general are 
very hospitable, very kind, very social and very generous : 
and I shall return home with grateful feelings. 


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